Katherine Zappone has opened up about the "heartbreaking" death of her wife Dr Ann Louise Gilligan, saying she will "never be the same".

The Minister for Children spoke openly about the tragic death of her wife last month in a heart-wrenching interview on RTE’s Saturday Night With Miriam last night.

The late Dr Gilligan - a former lecturer at Dublin City University - first met the Minister in Boston in 1981, where both women were completing their doctorates in theology.

They later married in 2003 in Canada, but weren't officially married in Ireland until the passing of the Marriage Equality referendum in 2015 - with the minister famously proposing live on television following the result.

But Ms Zappone revealed that, despite her heartbreak, she was happy with the years they spent together and for the love they had for each other.

Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Katherine Zappone with family and friends pictured at the funeral of her wife, Ann Louise Gilligan at , at the Helix DCU (Image: Stephen Collins/Collins Photos)

She said: "Not only was I deeply in love with Ann Louise and had 36 blissful years together and supported each other in everything we did, we just had this extraordinary oneness, it was a great gift, we were very blessed.

"And it was that love that enabled us and drove us to work towards the referendum and the freedom for ourselves, as well as so many other people. So I will never be the same person."

The minister also paid a touching tribute to her late wife, saying she "embraced every single moment" of life.

She said: "I know that she would want me to find a way to allow this extraordinary heartbreak I feel, and I’m sure for many other people that have lost people they deeply love, because it really is physical, and to allow that to heal to the point that I can embrace and love life again.

"If Ann Louise were sitting here tonight she would say that the moment she met me, she was surprised by love. And I thought she was really gorgeous, she had beautiful green eyes. I had never met an Irish woman before.

"But I suppose it was really six weeks and we had decided that we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together."